Tories push Transit boost; Liberals pitch health-care worker benefits

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Manitoba political parties have promised better bus services for suburbanites and burnout benefits for health-care professionals, as they continue campaigns for provincial leadership.

On Thursday, the incumbent Progressive Conservatives pledged to spend $8.8 million to expand Winnipeg Transit services in neighbourhoods on the city’s outskirts, if re-elected Oct. 3.

The funding, which would be provided in $2.2-million allotments over four years, would support the Aurora, Castlebury Meadows, Sage Creek, Bonavista, Prairie Pointe and Waterford Green lines, the PCs said.

Andrew Smith, PC candidate for Lagimodière, promised the new funding while speaking at Aurora Park in northern Winnipeg.

“We know how important bus service is to our community, to our city and, of course, to these new neighbourhoods, which are often under-serviced,” he said, flanked by fellow Tory candidates Sheilah Restall (McPhillips) and Réjeanne Caron (Fort Rouge).

“We want them to continue to grow. But you can’t continue to grow if you don’t provide some basic services like increased bus services.”

The pledge builds on a Tory investment of $32 million over two years, announced in 2020, to target transit shortfalls in municipalities across the province.

Smith credited the party for its efforts to improve safety on Winnipeg Transit buses. Record numbers of violent assaults have been reported by Transit employees in recent years, according to data from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505.

The Tories introduced the Police Services Amendment Act earlier this year to help the City of Winnipeg implement a new Transit security force.

The city has hired former Winnipeg Police Service officer Robert Chrismas to lead the group of 24 community safety officers.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont chided the Tories.

“At this point, the PCs sound like arsonists applying for the job of a firefighter,” he said in an emailed statement. “On their watch, the funding for Transit was cut, and the City of Winnipeg faced seven straight years of freezes.”

Lamont highlighted a previous Liberal pledge to create a $300-million green fund to support municipalities with transit costs.

The Liberal party later issued a promise of its own, saying it would expand the Workers Compensation Act to address burnout among health-care professionals.

If elected, the party would review the act and introduce “burnout benefits,” including a 20 per cent tax credit for health-care employees to purchase work shoes and scrubs.

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The Liberals would also ensure child care centres are located near hospitals, clinics and access centres.

“Until we can restore the physical and mental health of those in charge of providing the care for all of us, the system will never get better,” Lamont said.

Manitobans have until Saturday to vote in advance polls.

The provincial election is Oct. 3.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.